Melghat

Marthwada-Vidharbha Circuit- 8 days, 1750 Kms
Pune-Ahmednagar-Parbhani-Navagarh-Jintur (480 Kms)
Jintur-Lonar-Mehekar-Karanja (216 Kms)
Karnja-Amravati--Chikhaldara (153 Kms)
Chikhaldara-Partwada-Muktagiri (44Kms)
Chikhaldara-Semadoh-Chikhaldara (50Kms)
Muktagiri-Achalpur-Akot-Shegaon (120 Kms)
Shegaon-Mehekar-SindkhedRaja-Jalna-Aurangabad- (265 Kms)
Aurangabad-Nagar-Pune (236 Kms)

Type: Hillstation and Tiger Sanctuary
Base town: Chikhaldara
Where: 62Kms from Amravati
Route taken: Karanja-Amravati-Chikhaldara-Semadoh
Time visited: October 2011
My Meter reading from Pune: 870 Kms

After visiting the beautiful Karanja Jain temples we proceeded to Chikhaldara. After Partwada theres a small ghat of 15-20 kms all through dense teak forest. We reached in the noon. After quick search we settled down in MTDC resort which has unquestioned best location. Since it was Diwali time we were very lucky to get room and the guy told clearly that booking should have been done online…

Chikhaldara is not at all commercial and nothing like Mahabaleshwar or Matheran. There are only handful of hotels and one very tiny main road. We relaxed in the evening.

Early next morning at 6 we started for Semadoh which was around 15-20kms away. The drive was very beautiful. The entire stretch of road is ghat, very narrow with overgrown grass on both sides and thick dense forest. We caught sight of some early birds. Reached Semadoh in an hours’ time.

Nature and wildlife Interpretation Centre Semadoh
Semadoh is on Paratwada-Dharni road and is 50 km from Paratwada. But you can also come down via Chikhaldara. It is situated on the bank of Sipna Rivers. There is a Museum and Nature Interpretation Centre and this is the gateway to the reserved Tiger Sanctuary. You are able to get trained guides for Jungle Safari.  I wasn’t able to see the loding facilities but it seemed that they were pretty neat. The forest officer was very helpful. He showed us the museum and gave lot of information on Melghat.

The Sipna River

Various Birds in the morning

Semadoh Booking information

We were very lucky to catch very close glimpse of a male Bison while returning